Standards Commissioner will not investigate minister for tabling Pierre Fenech contracts late

Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi has concluded that Minister Clayton Bartolo did not breach the Ministerial Code of Ethics when he tabled the contents of two contracts belonging to Pierre Fenech two weeks late.

The complaint had been filed by independent politician Arnold Cassola, who cited reports by The Shift News that said Pierre Fenech was serving as CEO of two government entities at the same time.

After this news report came out, Nationalist MP Mario de Marco submitted a parliamentary question asking that these two contracts be submitted in the House, but Bartolo failed to table them at this time.

It was only after a second parliamentary question that the Minister submitted the two contracts in Parliament.

The Standards Commissioner insisted in its decision on Cassola’s complaint that there was no need for him to further investigate the matter because the contracts had already been submitted, even though they were submitted late.

“It is true that this delay in the tabling of the contracts could have been avoided, however the delay in and of itself does not merit an investigation now that the information has been given.”